ROYERSFORD — Rolling through the regular season undefeated isn’t always a good way to prepare for the playoffs, especially when there have been no real challenges along the way. But that will certainly not be a problem for the Methacton boys basketball team, which – though still without a loss in the Pioneer Athletic Conference with just two contests remaining – has had more of its games go right down to the wire than not.

The Warriors had another one of those nail-biters on Thursday night – their second this week against a team battling for a league playoff spot – and came through down the stretch again in a 45-42 win at Spring-Ford.

Brendan Casper led Methacton (11-0, 17-3) with 18 points and eight rebounds and Matt Forrest scored 13, including a three-point bomb that put the Warriors up by two points with less than a minute to go. Zameer McDowell scored 19 for the Rams (8-5, 13-7), who wrapped up their PAC-10 regular season and will now hope that Perkiomen Valley loses its finale to force a play-in game for a Final Four berth.

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“I think our kids are mentally tough and we’ve got experienced players in close games,” said Warrior coach Jeff Derstine. “There’s Matt Forrest and Brendan Casper, who had experience playing in close games last year. Matt … he wants the ball in his hands. Brendan … he wants the ball in his hands. Our kids are confident they can make plays at the end of the game.”

“I think the team has a lot of character,” added Forrest. “We have good team chemistry. That’s what really helps us out there.”

Spring-Ford had rallied from a seven-point deficit midway through the third quarter to take a 40-39 edge on a basket off a drive by McDowell with 1:10 to go in the game. But Forrest, who had missed the front end of a one-and-one a few seconds earlier, came down and drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing with 45 seconds left.

“Just move on,” Forrest said concerning his thinking after what could have been a crucial miss at the line. “As a team, we build off each others’ energy. You’ve got to come down and have confidence no matter what happens.”

The Rams had a chance to tie or go ahead, but missed a three-point try and Casper grabbed the rebound and was fouled and sank two at the line for a 44-40 advantage with 19 seconds remaining. Then Drew Kakareka threw in a short one-hander to cut the difference to two and Casper was fouled and made only the second of two from the line. But the Rams missed a pair of 3-pointers in the closing seconds and Casper cleared the boards to wrap up the win.

“Every game, people are going to try to shut down Brendan,” said Forrest. “Other guys have to come in and step up. Other guys are stepping up and hitting big shots.”

And that’s something that Spring-Ford has not been able to do consistently this season.

“Our defensive effort, as usual, was great,” said Rams coach Michael Young. “Our goal coming into the game was to hold them to 45 or under. But we struggled getting into an offensive rhythm tonight, big-time.”

The Warriors had beaten Perk Valley in a close game on Tuesday and completed a sweep of their top two Liberty Division threats with the victory over the Rams.

“It’s always tough to beat quality teams two times in one season,” said Derstine. “Perk Valley the other night has been playing great basketball. Spring-Ford has been playing great basketball.

“Spring-Ford played great defense tonight. I give them a ton of credit, and I think McDowell had an outstanding game for them. They’re a quality team and this is a real good way to get it done.”

Now the only way the Rams will have a shot at the Final Four is if Perk Valley loses to last-place Owen J. Roberts.

“We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs this year and they’ve always responded,” Young said concerning his players. “We might not have a chance for the Final Four, but we have Abington coming in here on Saturday and they’re one of the best teams in the district.”

NOTES

Forrest scored the first six points of the night on a pair of 3-pointers and the Warriors held a 10-2 lead before the Rams bounced back for a 16-14 lead after a quarter. … Matt O’Hara scored eight for Spring-Ford, including a short baseline jumper and a three-pointer from the right wing that cut the Warrior lead from seven to two in the third quarter. … Nick Stanek scored six and grabbed nine rebounds for the hosts and Anthony O’Brien added six points and six boards for the winners.